Aldud ap Owain of Tegeingl

ALDUD ap OWAIN of TEGEINGL

By Darrell Wolcott

The earliest mention of this shadowy figure is in the 13th century manuscript Hen Lwythau Gwynedd a'r Mars [1] in which he is called a son of Owain ap Edwin. That citation makes Aldud the father of Gladys who was wife to Ednyfed ap Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon of Maelor. The Aldud in this pedigree can be dated to c. 1085 as follows:

1020 Edwin

1050 Owain Rhiwallon 1030

l l

1085 Aldud Cynwrig[2] 1065

l l

1115 Gwladys[3]======Ednyfed 1100

Numerous medieval manuscripts[4] say Aldud had a son called Owain who had a son named Llewelyn. A single manuscript[5] mentions an Iorwerth ap Owain ap Aldud, but a rigid chronological analysis of that citation reveals it to be one generation too long, as follows:

1085 Aldud

1120 Owain

1120 Iorwerth

1155 Rhiryd

1185 Gronwy Ednyfed Fychan 1165 ob 1246

l l

1215 Einion Wyddel Sir Tudor 1200 ob 1278

l l

1245 daughter======Heilyn 1230 ob 1298

Gutun Owain was primarily citing the pedigree of Gwilym ap Gruffudd ap Heilyn in his 15th century manuscript, and his list of the ancestors of the above lady who married into the primary line is probably accurate back to Iorwerth. In the same manuscript, he had cited other lines descended from Aldud...all through a single son, Owain. If we remove Owain and make Iorwerth a second son of Aldud, the cited marriage is chronologically possible. But to suggest Heilyn married a lady born a generation later, that is c. 1275, is unreasonable.

A third son of Aldud named Llewelyn is suggested in a citation from Gruffudd Hireathog[6] which was primarily concerned with the family of Idnerth Benfras. A lady from that family is given this marriage:

960 Idnerth Benfras

995 Lles

1025 Eginyr

1055 Urien

1085 Eginyr

1120 Gwylog Llewelyn 1120

l l

1155 Iorwerth Gruffudd 1155

l l

1190 daughter=====Ieuaf 1185

Although Peter Bartrum makes Llewelyn a son of Owain ap Aldud[7], this citation ends with Llewelyn. Chronologically, he occurs but a single generation after Aldud. Once we accepted that there was both a Llewelyn ap Aldud and a Llewelyn ap Owain ap Aldud, many other family branches cohered to a single overall timeline.

Within the families descended from Aldud, there occur several repeating strings of names. A Gruffudd ap Madog ap Rhiryd occurs c. 1220, c. 1280 and c. 1315. Peter Barturm's chart in Welsh Genealogies AD 300 - 1400" makes all three of those men identical; the one in his chart is the Gruffudd born c. 1280. A Rhiryd ap Llewelyn ap Owain occurs c. 1155 and again c. 1250, while a Gwyn ap Llewelyn ap Owain occurs c. 1185 and again c. 1250. Bartrum's charts again display only a single man of each name, dating Rhiryd to c. 1200 and Gwyn to c. 1230. He portrays them as brothers with a father born c. 1130.[8] Clearly, the chart is a flawed attempt to assemble a family tree from the pedigree fragments found in the source manuscripts.

After months of attempting to bring all the citations into chronological stability with all the families connected by marriage, we found that merely two emendations[9] were required to achieve that goal. And these relate to a common error found in many pedigrees: the omission of a pair of repeating names. First, we would make the c. 1250 brothers Rhiryd and Gwyn sons of Llewelyn ap Owain ap [Llewelyn ap Owain] ap Aldud. Secondly, we would make the c. 1280 Gruffudd a son of Madog ap Rhiryd ap [Madog ap Rhiryd] ap Llewelyn ap Aldud. Thus our chart of the early generations would look thus:

CHART A

1085 Aldud

_____________l______________

l l l

1120 Llewelyn 1120 Iorwerth Owain 1115

________l_____ l l

l l l l

1150 Gruffudd 1155 Rhiryd Rhiryd 1150 Llewelyn 1150

l l

1185 Ieuaf 1190 Madog Ddu CHART B

_______l_______________

l l

1215 Rhiryd Gruffudd 1220

l l

1250 Madog Ddu Ieuan 1250

l l

1280 Gruffudd Cynwrig 1280

l l

1315 Gruffudd Fychan Dafydd 1310

l =

1345 Gruffudd Benfras Angharad f. Bleddyn Fychan 1320

See CHART B

CHART B

1150 Llewelyn

___________l___________

l l

1185 Gwyn 1180 Owain

l l

1220 Gronwy 1215 Llewelyn

l l

1250 Bleddyn CHART C

1285 Bleddyn Fychan

1320 Angharad

1310 Dafydd ap Cynwrig (on CHART A)

CHART C

1215 Llewelyn

______________l_______________

l l

1250 Rhiryd Gwyn 1250

______l____________ l

l l l

1290 Rhys 1280 Madog Madog 1280

l l l

1320 Iorwerth 1315 Gruffudd Gronwy 1315

l l l

1350 Ithel 1345 Gruffudd Fychan Belyn 1350

l l

1375 Iorwerth Tudor 1385

But exactly who was this man called Aldud of Tegeingl? Some medieval manuscripts[10] say Aldud was a female, married to the "Earl of Derby" named Ystifyn and the mother of a son called Owain. But the earliest such Earl was Robert de Ferrers who died in 1139 and whose wife was named Hawsie. He may have been alive at the right time to match up with the Aldud of 1085, but his name could hardly have been rendered in Welsh as Ystifyn or Stephen. Recognizing this, later pedigrees claimed he was a son of the Earl. The pedigrees of the de Ferrers family show no such son and any son of Robert would have been too young to marry our Aldud. We would reject the idea that Aldud was a female, but believe the Ystifyn in the pedigrees was likely descended from the same family and born c. 1150.

Wholly absent from the Welsh chronicles and early histories, the only story told of Aldud is found in Peniarth Ms 131 written by Ieuan Brechfa about the year 1500. There, we are told that Aldud "held all of Tegeingl by spear and sword for three years over a grievance with its Lord, for which act he then received a pardon from the king". While not named, we might assume this "Lord" was Gruffudd ap Cynan and the king who pardoned him may have been Henry I. The event, if historical, should have occurred c. 1125, the year when Cadwallon ap Gruffudd ap Cynan killed 3 sons of Owain ap Edwin.

Thomas Glenn[11] was perhaps the first to suggest that Aldud was not a birth name at all, but a corrupt spelling of "alltud". In Welsh law, an alltud was an alien who came to live in Wales. While accepted by the noble class and permitted to inter-marry with them, an alltud had a lesser monetary value in the schedule of fines levied for offences against a man. His family would not be viewed equal in value to Welshmen until the 9th generation. We tend to agree with Glenn; no other man (or woman) bears the name Aldud in the entire body of both ancient and medieval pedigree manuscripts. (But refer to the final paragraph of this paper for a discussion of a man called Aldrud.)

We suspect that Aldud was a non-Welsh child adopted and raised as a son by Owain ap Edwin. It is likely the first mention in a pedigree called him "y alltud" which later copyists rendered as Aldud. (In many Welsh words and names, "d" and "t" are interchangable, both pronounced as "t".)

Cautioning that what follows is mere speculation, we shall attempt to construct a reasonable scenerio which might explain our "adopted son" theory. We shall set the stage with the 1098 flight of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn and Gruffudd ap Cynan from Anglesey to Ireland. When a deal was made with the Normans to allow their return to Wales, Earl Hugh of Chester required they give hostages to ensure their "good behavior" and fidelity to him as overlord. One such hostage may have been a 14 year old kinsman of Gruffudd[12]. Earl Hugh may have then turned the youngster over to his man in Tegeingl, Owain ap Edwin, since he was about the age when young men begin their training for manhood. Earl Hugh died three years later in 1102 and Owain may have adopted the young man both because he had grown fond of the lad and because they were distantly related...Owain's mother, Iwerydd ferch Cynfyn, was perhaps a cousin of the boy's grandfather in Ireland.[13] Whatever was the birthname of the boy, we know him only as Aldud[14].

We suggest Owain's natural sons accepted Aldud as a brother, and after Owain died in 1105, they made sure he received a full share of his lands. He apparently took a wife when he completed his mandatory training at age 28 and they had a daughter Gwladys followed by sons Owain, Iorwerth and Llewelyn. In 1125, we are told that Cadwallon ap Gruffudd ap Cynan killed Gronwy, Rhiryd and Meilyr...natural sons of Owain ap Edwin. We think Gruffudd, then about 55 years old, sent his warband against the Tegeingl family when they refused to accept his taking of all Gwynedd as his rightful lordship. Having faithfully served King Henry I for 25 years, we believe the king finally rewarded Gruffudd ap Cynan by granting him rule of all Gwynedd; he had long insisted it was his birthright but had never rebelled when he had been limited to rule only in Anglesey.

Although the Tegeingl family was well aware that the English king had sanctioned the expansion of Gruffudd's rule to include their lands, they rebelled. They had prospered for years as "holders-in-chief" from the English king and may have feared that serving under Gruffudd would subject them to all the petty wars between the various Welsh princedoms. So perhaps it fell to Aldud to "defend" Tegeingl against the sons of Gruffudd ap Cynan, denying them any control there by "spear and sword" for three years. King Henry was preoccupied with events in Normandy and attempting to arrange for his eventual successor (he had no sons), and may have simply left the Tegeingl problem to Gruffudd for the time being. Eventually Aldud relented, probably when Henry I finally summoned both men and imposed a settlement which included a full pardon to Aldud for having forcefully prevented Henry's man Gruffudd from collecting the rents and other renders the Tegeingl family owed its "lord".

One final observation about Aldud: some family pedigrees confuse him with a man named Aldrud. Of unknown ancestry, this Aldrud was born c. 1180 and his 14th century descendants married ladies of the Tegeingl family:

1050 Ednowain Bendew[15]

1080 Madog 1085 Uchdryd "ap Edwin"[16]

l l

1110 Iorwerth 1120 Maredudd

l l

1145 Madog 1155 Ithel Gam Hen

l l

1175 Rhiryd 1190 Ithel Lloyd Aldrud 1180

l l l

1210 Iorwerth 1220 Ithel Gam Adda 1215

l l l

1240 Rhiryd 1260 Ithel Fychan Ithel 1245

l l l

1280 Robert Goch 1290 daughter[17]===Einion 1275

l l

1315 Angharad[18]===========Ednyfed 1305

NOTES:

[1] HLG 13e

[2] This is Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon ap Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon ap Dyngad ap Tudor Trevor

[3] She was probably the first child of Aldud

[4] These include Peniarth Mss 128, 129, 131 and 176

[5] Peniarth Ms 131 pp 93 by Gutun Owain

[6] Peniarth Ms 134 pp 56

[7] Welsh Genealogies AD 300-1400, chart Edwin 2

[8] ibid, chart Edwin 4

[9] In addition to positing both a Llewelyn ap Aldud and a Llewelyn ap Owain ap Aldud

[10] These include Peniarth Ms 131, 134 and 176

[11] In his "Family of Griffith of Garn and Plasnewydd", pp 38, Glenn refers to Aldud as "Eadwine the alltud" but like much of his work, gives no source for that birth name.

[12] Gruffudd's father Cynan ap Iago ap Idwal was a first-cousin of Gruffudd ap Cynan ap Idwal...the latter was born in Ireland and it is likely it was to that family where Cadwgan and Gruffudd fled in 1098. Cadwgan had married into the same family although that wife had died before 1098. Accordingly, children of this Irish family would have been a natural source for hostages to be handed over to the Norman Earl.

[13] While nowhere named, the first wife of Cynfyn was likely an Irish lady and their daughter was simply nicknamed Iwerydd to denote her Irish roots.

[14] Re note 11, Glenn's choice for his birthname is a Saxon male name, but we think the boy was Irish and probably bore an Irish male name.

[15] We have elsewhere suggested this man was actually Owain ap Edwin of Tegeingl. See our paper "The Ednowain Bendew II of Medieval Pedigrees" at the link below:

http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id85.html

[16] This Uchdryd occurs in the generation of Edwin's grandsons and was probably a same-named son of Uchdryd ap Edwin. See our paper on this Uchdryd at the link below:

http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id88.html

[17] This marriage is cited in Peniarth Ms 127, pp 62/63, Peniarth Ms 128, pp 274a and Peniarth Ms 139(1), pp 123

[18] ibid note 17 except the final source listed there does not mention a wife for Ednyfed ap Einion